Book of Common Prayer
To the Overcomer upon Shoshannim, {lilies} A testimony of Asaph: A Psalm.
1 ¶ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth.
2 In the presence of Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength and come and save us.
3 Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
4 O LORD God of the hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?
5 Thou dost feed them with the bread of tears and give them tears to drink in great measure.
6 Thou dost make us a strife unto our neighbours, and our enemies laugh at us among themselves.
7 Turn us again, O God of the hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
8 ¶ Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt; thou hast cast out the Gentiles and planted it.
9 Thou didst prepare room before it and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the earth.
10 The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and its boughs were like the cedars of God.
11 She sent out her boughs unto the sea and her branches unto the river.
12 Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all those who pass by the way pluck her?
13 The boar out of the wood wastes it, and the wild beast of the field devours it.
14 Return, we beseech thee, O God of the hosts: look down from heaven and behold and visit this vine
15 and the vineyard which thy right hand has planted and the branch that thou didst make strong for thyself.
16 It is burned with fire; it is cut down; they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.
17 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou didst make strong for thyself,
18 so we will not go back from thee. Thou shalt quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.
19 Turn us again, O LORD God of the hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
To the Overcomer, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ I cried unto God with my voice, even unto God with my voice; and he gave ear unto me.
2 In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; my sore bled in the night and ceased not; my soul refused to be comforted.
3 I remembered God and cried out; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
4 Thou didst hold my eyelids open; I am broken and did not speak.
5 I have considered the days from the beginning, the years of the ages.
6 I call to remembrance my songs of the night; I commune with my own heart, and my spirit made diligent search.
7 Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more?
8 Is his mercy gone for ever? does his word fail from generation to generation?
9 Has God forgotten to have mercy? has he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
10 And I said, This is my infirmity, but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.
11 ¶ I remembered the works of JAH; therefore I shall remember thy wonders of old.
12 I meditated also on all thy works and spoke of thy doings.
13 Thy way, O God, is in holiness; who is so great a God as our God?
14 Thou art the God that doest wonders; thou hast declared thy strength among the peoples.
15 Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.
16 The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid; the depths also were troubled.
17 The clouds poured out floods of waters; the heavens thundered; thy bolts of lightning also went forth.
18 The voice of thy thunder was all around; the lightnings lightened the world; the earth trembled and shook.
19 Thy way was in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps were not known.
20 Thou didst lead thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 ¶ O God, the Gentiles are come into thine inheritance; they have defiled the temple of thy holiness; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.
2 The dead bodies of thy slaves they have given to be food unto the fowls of the heavens, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.
3 They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was no one to bury them.
4 We are reproached by our neighbours, scorned, and derided by those that are round about us.
5 How long, LORD? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire?
6 ¶ Pour out thy wrath upon the Gentiles that do not know thee and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon thy name.
7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place.
8 O remember not against us former iniquities; let thy tender mercies speedily meet us on the way, for we are very poor.
9 Help us, O God, our saving health, for the honor of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
10 Why should the Gentiles say, Where is their God? let him be known among the Gentiles in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy slaves which is shed.
11 Let the sighing of the prisoners come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve those that are appointed to die
12 and render unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their reproach, with which they have reproached thee, O Lord.
13 So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: from generation to generation we will sing thy praises.
8 ¶ Take care to do all the commandments which I command thee this day that ye may live and be multiplied and enter in and inherit the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers.
2 And thou shalt remember all the way by which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness to afflict thee and to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether thou would keep his commandments, or not.
3 And he afflicted thee and caused thee to hunger and sustained thee with manna, food of which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD shall man live.
4 Thy raiment never waxed old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
5 And know in thine heart, that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD thy God chastens thee.
6 Keep, therefore, the commandments of the LORD thy God by walking in his ways and fearing him.
7 For the LORD thy God brings thee into a good land, a land of brooks, of waters, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills,
8 a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olives, of oil, and honey;
9 a land in which thou shalt eat bread without scarceness; thou shalt not lack any thing in it, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose mountains thou may dig brass.
10 ¶ Thou shalt eat and be full and bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he has given thee.
1 ¶ James, {Gr. Jacob} a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus, the Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
2 ¶ My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse trials,
3 knowing that the proving of your faith works patience,
4 and the patience finishes the work, that ye may be perfect and entire, not lacking in anything.
5 And if any of you lacks wisdom, let them ask of God (who gives abundantly to all, and without reproach), and it shall be given them.
6 But ask in faith, not doubting anything. For he that doubts is like the wave of the sea which is driven of the wind and is tossed from one side to another.
7 For let not such a man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord.
8 The double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in his high status;
10 and he who is rich, in his low status, because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withers the grass, and its flower falls, and the beautiful appearance of it perishes: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
12 Blessed is the man that patiently endures temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those that love him.
13 ¶ Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither does he tempt anyone:
14 But each one is tempted, when they are drawn away of their own lust and enticed.
15 Then when lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death.
18 ¶ And it came to pass as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him, and he asked them, saying, Who do the people say that I am?
19 They answering said, John the Baptist; but some say, Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets is risen again.
20 He said unto them, But who do ye say that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God.
21 And he straitly charged them and commanded them not to tell anyone this,
22 saying, The Son of man must suffer many things and be rejected of the elders and of the princes of the priests and scribes and be slain and be raised the third day.
23 And he said to them all, If anyone will come after me, let them deny themself and take up their cross {Gr. stauros – stake} daily and follow me.
24 For whosoever desires to save his soul shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his soul for my sake, the same shall save it.
25 For what is a man advantaged if he gains the whole world, having destroyed himself or having suffered the loss of himself?
26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory and in his Father’s and of the holy angels.
27 But I tell you in truth, there are some standing here who shall not taste of death until they see the kingdom of God.
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